Sophia stayed in Fred and George's room for the next few hours catching up with Fred about his new inventions from their Weasley Wizard Wheezes range. She was content with seeing how happy he looked when he would bring out product after product, talking nonstop with a big smile on his face. Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Sophia couldn't stop her bright grin when Fred was explaining how the Puking Pastilles worked.

"And you just eat the other end to- what? Why are you smiling like that?" Fred stopped mid-sentence with a confused look. Sophia laughed at his obliviousness and stood up from the bed, walking over to stand in front of him.

"You're just so cute Freddie," she beamed up at him, taking the oddly coloured sweet from his hand and juggling it between her palms.

"Pfft cute?" he scoffed and straightened his shoulders unconsciously. "I'm not cute Lupin. I'm a man! I'm seventeen now you know?"

Sophia laughed as he narrowed his eyes down at her. She had half a mind to pinch his cheek just to annoy him more and try to further prove her point, but refrained as a knock was suddenly heard from the door. The two turned their heads only to see Sirius standing there with raised eyebrows and eyes switching between them. They were standing quite close, closer than you'd expect from people who were' just friends'.

"Um sorry to interrupt-" Sirius started as a knowing look suddenly dawned his features. "-your dad's leaving now. The meeting just finished and he wants to talk to you Soph."

The girl suppressed a groan and settled with an irritated look instead. She thought he had left when she had walked away from him without a goodbye and the settling into seeing her friends made her forget about how angry she was at her father. None the less, she nodded back at Sirius who still stood in the doorway. The man took this as his time to leave the room but not without casting a look towards Fred who stood there with an awkward esk for once.

"Does he know?" Fred questioned once Sirius had left, jabbing his finger towards the door while turning to look at Sophia.

"About us? Not sure," she answered and huffed with the reminder of having to speak to her father. "I never really said that we were officially dating to my dad. I've been too angry at him."

"I didn't say we were to my parents either. But Bill and Charlie definitely worked it out for themselves," Fred retorted, reaching down and taking hold of Sophia's hands in his own.

"I guess I better go downstairs then..." Sophia sighed. "Can you come with me?"

"I'll go find Georgie first, I'll meet you down there."

Sophia descended the stairs of the gloomy house and walked past a very large portrait that was covered by some very long curtains. Confused yet wary, she continued past it and didn't want to find out what was behind the moth-eaten barrier. Once she made it to the bottom floor, she turned to head towards the kitchen that now had its door open for her to see. Sitting at the dining table was Sirius, Remus and Bill while Molly seemed to be stirring a huge cauldron that wafted the smell of garlic. Bracing herself, Sophia made her presence known by standing in the doorway and crossing her arms over her chest to communicate that she wasn't ready for this conversation.

"Lunch will be soon deary, I'll get you to run up and tell the others after your father leaves," Molly sweetly informed her before turning back to her soup that could feed an army. Sophia nodded back at the Weasley and heard the scrape of a chair being pushed back, a hollow feeling settling into her stomach when she sensed her father walking over to where she stood. Forcing her head to turn in his direction, she followed up the scruffy suit to meet his lined and scarred face.

Sophia gulped when he shuffled past her and into the hallway, reluctantly following after him away from the eyes of Sirius and Molly's listening ears. With a heavy heart and suddenly wishing that Fred and George would appear behind her, she stopped in front of her father who stood with his hands shoved into his trouser pockets.

"I know you're dreading this conversation but it has to be said," Remus looked down at his daughter that couldn't keep eye contact with him for more than two seconds. "I can't tell you why I've been keeping you on lock down yet but- please don't interrupt Sophia."

She shut her mouth at his stern tone and swallowed her angry questioning. Her father blinked at her to see if she would listen to him this time and when she did, he continued with a stare that pinned her in her place.

"Just know that my reasoning, our reasoning in fact, is for the safety of not only you but everyone else too. Be angry at me all you want, but I will not let you be in any unnecessary danger that you shouldn't have to be in. I lost your mother because of that and I'm not prepared to have it happen to you too."

If anything could of made Sophia feel like crying it was that. The look that was on Remus's face was enough to understand his sincerity, but the emotion in his dark eyes just made her feel as if the unspoken past had crept out of it's time to remind her of it. But because of her slow thinking and emotional capacity, Sophia could only stand there and stare up at her father with a much more softer look than the one she had intended to keep during the conversation.

"I'll be back for meetings throughout the week. Molly will have you well fed I'm sure," her father continued and successfully transmitted his hidden meanings through his words. Even he had noticed how skinny she always was after spending time at home. He sometimes wished she would stay at Hogwarts during break time. At least then she would have a nutritious meal every day.

"Oh and I meant to give you this back," Remus reached into his suit jacket and pulled out a familiar scroll of parchment. Sophia's lips parted at the sight of her recently taken Sky map and was shocked to see him hold it out to her with his signature fatherly smile. She slowly reached up to take it from his hands, thinking he would snatch it away from her once she touched it. Holding it close to her chest, Sophia slowly felt the tense feeling that was inside of her slowly diminish. Her father was unknowingly softening her even though she was on no-speaking terms with him only hours ago.

"Be good," he finished and ruffled her hair before leaning down and kissing her head. He hadn't expected a response but was happy to hear one, even if it was as small as it was.

"Bye Dad."

And with that, Remus walked out of the door at the end of the hallway and left Sophia with a whole new perspective. She was glad it was over but suddenly didn't want her father walking out after all that. As much as she hated the word, she had felt 'safe' while in her dad's constant presence. And she did feel safe when being around the Weasleys' and her friends. But Sophia wished she could somehow have both at the same time.

"How was it?" Sophia jumped with an audible 'Oh!' as Fred's face appeared over her shoulder. She hadn't heard the pop of the twins' appearance in the hallway since she zoned out, but was relieved to see their identical faces.

"Merlin, no wonder you drive your mum mad," Sophia had her hand over her chest to ease her still hammering heart.

"It's what she gets after having such angelic children like Bill and Charlie," George shrugged. "We see it as balancing out the family."

Sophia rolled her eyes and told them to get the others down for lunch like Molly said. The Weasley children as well as Hermione and Sophia piled into the kitchen, taking a seat around the long table with Sirius in amongst them somewhere. Molly got Bill to help her with the huge cauldron and started to hand out cutlery for everyone, leaving a rather ugly looking House-Elf to sneak in during the commotion.

"Filthy blood traitors... how upset my Mistress would be about having them in her house..." the House-Elf was dressed in what looked to be a pillowcase and grumbled as he shuffled around the table. "A Mud-blood too, heaven forbid-"

"Shut up Kreacher," Sirius hissed over his shoulder, attempting to shoo the elf out of the kitchen.

"The young traitor trying to order Kreacher around..." the elf continued but started heading towards the door in reluctant obedience. "Even a filthy half-breed of the mutt in his Mistress's house-"

"Oi watch it!" Fred stood up from his seat with his wand in his hand, the elf flinching and slowly disappearing into the hallway. Sophia didn't care about the obviously bitter attitude of the House Elf but Fred was near fuming at the insult of his girlfriend. He could handle the constant stabs at them being blood traitors but once it came to Sophia, he wouldn't hold back his hexes towards the pest. More embarrassed by the looks she was now receiving from Sirius and Molly; Sophia grabbed hold of Fred's shirt and pulled him back into his seat with a sheepish smile.

Luckily, everyone started eating and mostly forgot about the ordeal. Fred sat with a guarded look for a while but soon calmed down once he had gotten some of his Mum's soup into his system. The warm meal brought the joy back into the room and it wasn't dampened by Molly's complaining of the spider webs forming in corners that she had just cleaned. Sirius just lazily shrugged at the fact that his house was near unliveable and let Molly fuss over the cleanliness of the kitchen she had recently claimed.

"How did it go with your dad?" Fred asked into Sophia's ear when the table entered into a light conversation about the new season for the Quidditch league.

"I'm glad it's done with but nothing was answered that's worth repeating," Sophia crept around the subject and Fred took it as a sign to leave the conversation at that. "I've been meaning to ask, where's Percy? I definitely saw Charlie before."

"Errr best to tell you later," Fred looked uncomfortable and glanced at his mum who was looking just so cheery at the end of the table. Sophia followed his gaze and was confused but nodded in a form of understanding.

---

Harry had arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place later on in the week with the word of being expelled from Hogwarts. This had previously sent the household into an outrage as his use of underage magic wasn't worth the annihilation he received. Hermione had been going through countless books in order to thoroughly prove his innocent and bombarded him as soon as he stepped through the threshold of the house. Sophia had given him a kind smile and a hug when she saw him, to which he returned with what looked like great difficulty. Everyone had noticed that he was agitated about the whole situation as well as being unusually grumpy in general. Harry had made it clear that he hadn't appreciated being completely out of the loop of news about the situation of You Know Who being back. Hermione and Ron were especially guilty and tried to explain that they swore to Dumbledore about not contacting Harry at all. This made Sophia jump in the second she could as she sympathised completely with the alienated boy.

"I'm in the same boat as you Harry," she said when she sat next to him on the bed in Ron's temporary room. "I wasn't allowed out of my house until earlier this week. I wasn't even allowed to read the Daily Prophet."

This did ease Harry and made him feel like he wasn't alone among his so-called friends. He turned to Sophia and sent her a small but genuine smile.

"Was it your dad?", Harry asked and Sophia nodded.

"I think he only brought me here because he knew I was ready to go on a strike if he made me stay for another day," her dry humour brought another smile to Harry's face and it made Sophia feel good that she could make the boy feel a little more settled. Having the constant thought of You Know Who and Cedric Diggory's death on your mind can't be good for a fifteen year old boy.

"Hello Harry," the loud pop of the twins appearing made Harry jump in his place but left Sophia, Ron and Hermione motionless. "Thought we heard your depressing yells."

"Don't bottle it all up mate, let it out," Fred mimicked softly and squished into the space in-between Harry and Sophia, making the two shuffle to opposite ends of the bed. Sophia went to get up fully from her seat seeing as George also wanted to sit down in the near to no space left on the bed, only to be pulled backwards and sat in between Fred's legs. He beamed at her from over her shoulder and cheekily pecked her on the cheek.

"Don't you want to hear something a little more interesting?" George spoke up and held up a very realistic looking ear, mischief sparkling in his eyes.